(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to additives to anhydrous ammonia as well as systems and methods for using additives to anhydrous ammonia to detect the prior evaporation of anhydrous ammonia. This detection can indicate leaks in anhydrous ammonia storage vessels and can detect and inhibit the illegal production of methamphetamine.
(2) Background of the Invention
The use and production of methamphetamine is an illegal activity which impacts many aspects of American society. Known on the streets as “speed,” “meth,” “chalk,” “ice,” “crystal,” “crank,” or “glass,” methamphetamine has become a substantial drug problem in much of the United States in both rural and urban areas. While methamphetamine use was traditionally associated with white, male, blue-collar workers, the drug is seeing increasing use amongst teens and other young adults. In a national survey conducted in the year 2000, an estimated 8.8 million people or 4 percent of the population of the United States were believed to have tried methamphetamine.
The drug, which is a powerful stimulant formed from ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, is recognized as causing a powerful stimulant rush, as well as a pleasurable high of relatively short duration. The high is believed to be caused by the release of very high levels of dopamine in the brain spurred by the drug. Physically, the drug is generally in the form of either a white odorless crystalline powder or a clear crystal. The drug dissolves easily in alcohol and water and can be taken through virtually any means including injection, inhalation, ingestion, and smoking.
While users of methamphetamine are generally pursuing a desirable high, methamphetamine use also has negative toxic effects on the body. A single dose can damage nerve terminals in the brain. High doses can also elevate body temperature to dangerous, sometimes lethal, levels, as well as cause convulsions. The drug can be addictive with addicts foregoing sleep and food in pursuit of a high. This addictive behavior can also lead to an increase in criminal behavior for the addict to obtain the resources to support the addiction. Chronic abuse can also directly lead to psychotic behavior including intense paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and out-of-control rages that can be coupled with extremely violent behavior. Longer term damage can also include hardening of the brain arteries, mini-strokes and mental disabilities, as well as deterioration of bodily organs.
The production of methamphetamine is also a significant problem for the American public. The production itself is very hazardous involving numerous volatile chemicals such as lighter fluid, ammonia, chlorine gas, and others at production “labs” within homes, vehicles, abandoned buildings and rural structures. These labs regularly explode or catch fire causing property damage and the potential for injury or death. Even if law enforcement officials have reason to suspect a person or location is involved in methamphetamine production, they still may have trouble locating a lab or proving a connection as materials may be disposed of or hidden leaving little, if any, trace of the prior production.
Further, a high percentage of methamphetamine production is carried out by individual users for their own personal use and is performed in small labs. Dealers or those manufacturing large quantities of methamphetamine are generally more sophisticated and will often set up labs in more isolated rural areas far from others where an explosion may cause environmental damage and kill the producer, but often will not affect others unless they accidentally stumble on the lab while exploring the wilderness. Personal labs, however, can actually be more dangerous because they are often located in houses, apartments, garages, or even places of business and an explosion or fire from the lab can lead to a potentially dangerous situation placing not the only the users and their families at risk, but neighbors and emergency personnel who respond. Further, many teenagers or those experimenting in the chemistry of methamphetamine may not realize the danger of some of the underlying ingredients which can also lead to a hazardous situation.
Many of the chemicals used in the production of methamphetamine are now subject to consumer controls on their purchase as a means to disrupt production. Because of this, raw materials are often stolen from legitimate purchasers or manufacturers. One of the materials used to produce methamphetamine using a chemical procedure popular in illegal production is anhydrous ammonia, a clear liquid which boils (becoming ammonia gas) at −28° F. without leaving a trace. Anhydrous ammonia is regularly used by farmers as fertilizer being injected into the fields in a pressurized liquid form to improve agricultural production. As many farmers and fertilizer dealers therefore need to store and own large amounts of anhydrous ammonia for this use, farms, as well as fertilizer dealers, anhydrous ammonia transporters, and anhydrous ammonia refiners, have become targets of those who wish to steal the chemical for the production of methamphetamine.
In addition to the economic impact of such theft, farmers, fertilizer dealers, transporters, law enforcement and emergency responders may also be injured or killed by those attempting to obtain or use the chemical who are desperate not to get caught with the chemical (as punishments are often quite severe). Further, the theft can have environmental impacts as often once the thieves have what they want, they simply allow the remaining anhydrous ammonia in a storage tank to evaporate into the atmosphere resulting either from their failure to close a valve or from damage done to the tank during their theft resulting in a leak. Skin contact with anhydrous ammonia can cause rapid tissue damage and inhalation of ammonia gas can lead to major lung damage and death. Therefore, openly discharging tanks resulting from a completed theft can present a major problem to those persons nearby the tanks. Further, the liquid ammonia generally is not transferred by the thief in containers designed to store anhydrous ammonia. These improper containers can rupture explosively or leak. Sometimes simply more anhydrous ammonia than is needed is stolen. Then evaporation may be allowed to occur during transport to dispose of the excess.
Because of the chemical and physical properties of methamphetamine and the materials used in methamphetamine production, it is often difficult to detect when an individual is either using the drug, or producing the drug, unless they are either caught in production, caught with a functioning lab (or clear indications of a lab), or in a currently high state. As production and use are often performed in secret or with those who will not inform law enforcement, it can often be difficult to detect a person engaged in the drug's production or use during routine law enforcement activities. Instead, discovery can often require the use of searches which can violate Constitutional rights unless law enforcement has obtained an appropriate warrant. Law enforcement may, however, not be able to obtain the needed warrant without having already conducted the prohibited search.
In addition, production of one pound of methamphetamine produces about six pounds of toxic wastes. Lab sites are inundated with these toxic wastes and toxic wastes are often camouflaged, hidden, or buried to try and prevent their detection. Cleanup costs for each lab are thousands of dollars and often locating all the wastes in order to clean them up can be an arduous task. In rural areas, these toxic wastes often contaminate the soil and water, posing risks to innocent persons who stumble into these clandestine labs and also to the environment as a whole.
An industrial product related to anhydrous ammonia is ammonium nitrate. Each of these chemicals can be made from the other. Ammonium nitrate is also used as a fertilizer and has caused its own problems for law enforcement, particularly since it has been used as a raw material for use in production of explosives. In recent years, ammonium nitrate gained notoriety as a raw material for explosives when it was used to perpetrate a terrorist act against the United States. Further, methamphetamine producers have recently discovered that the material can be refined in their own production into ammonia suitable for their needs.
When examining the methamphetamine culture and its production as discussed above, a pervasive element should become clear: those who produce methamphetamine fear being discovered. Labs are kept on private property (or in remote areas) where searches by law enforcement are difficult to conduct and may be unlikely to find the necessary evidence to carry out an arrest. Further, the acts related to obtaining the raw materials are often conducted clandestinely using theft and third parties to carry out legitimate smaller purchases to fund a thriving underground market in the necessary supplies. Further, methamphetamine labs use numerous products which have other legitimate uses for which a vast percentage of the purchasers utilize them. As the raw materials used to produce methamphetamine are often indistinguishable from those used legitimately, detection of methamphetamine production even after the fact can also be difficult.